


Negative Space

by rumithealien



Series: changing the rules to play the game [1]
Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M, kipling family centric, set around and between parts one and two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 01:03:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumithealien/pseuds/rumithealien
Summary: The different ways the Kipling family see Dizzee has changed over the past year or so and what they extrapolate from that. Some are more right then others. Each has noticed something different.





	Negative Space

**Author's Note:**

> i've read all the fic for the get down and was driven to write my own to cope

Dizzee had always been a wanderer, even as a kid. Winston knew all too well that you’d put him down for a second, look back and he’d be gone. Shopping trips had been a nightmare; You let go of his hand for an instant and he’d have hidden behind something or under something and you’d spend ten minutes trying to find him. 

As he’d gotten older, he’d spend hours wandering around the Bronx “for inspiration pops” and half the time not even his brothers knew where he was. So, Winston hadn’t really been surprised when Dizzee’d started disappearing for even longer periods of time and returning without explanation in the early hours of the morning. 

Surprised no. Worried and slightly ticked off? Yes.

Mostly due to the fact that, though Dizzee had spent hours wandering before, when he’d returned in the past he’d at least have some bullshit poet’s answer as to where he’d been, why he’d been there and how it’d affected him. These answers where often incomprehensible to Winston and the rest of the Kipling family but they had at least wrung with Dizzee’s own particular brand of truth. 

The problem was nowadays Winston was finding himself thinking that his eldest son’s answers seemed to be more bullshit then poet. He’d stumble over them more then he usually did, his eyes would flit around the room like they would when he promised he “wasn’t bombing no more” and what was worse Winston knew that at least some of the time Dizzee wasn’t taking his spray paints. 

Winston was not naïve enough or oblivious enough to believe that his son had stopped bombing, only that Dizzee was now doing so more carefully and behind his back. This had been what he’d assumed Dizzee had been sneaking out late at night to do; the fact that he was leaving his paints behind unfortunately cast some rather large doubts on this theory and concerned Winston no end. If Dizzee was lying then he knew Dizzee was up to something he knew they wouldn’t approve of, and if he knew they wouldn’t approve it was probably illegal, and the fact that he wasn’t bombing meant it was something new. Maybe drugs. God, he hoped it wasn’t gangs or drugs. If he was lucky it’d be some new art project using some new material, maybe Dizzee was robbing scrapheaps to do sculpture. 

That would make sense Winston paused to consider the option. He remembered the change that had come over Dizzee when he’d first started bombing. He’d been more off in his own world if that seemed possible and eternally preoccupied with his next work and experiment. He’d settled into his pattern after a while maybe it was a new set of materials causing this change in his son. Cause there had been a change. 

Winston hadn’t noticed at first but Dizzee seemed more settled recently, something in the way he held himself had changed. He seemed more sure of himself and less likely to shrink slightly if his siblings teased him for speaking nonsense, as if it no longer mattered to him that they couldn’t understand him. If Dizzee had met a new group and was working on a project with them that might explain it though Winston had to conceded that it would not completely explain why Dizzee hadn’t mentioned any new friends over the past few months. 

Winston glanced at the clock for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. Dizzee was usually up by now and he’d been hoping to catch him before the rest of the Kiplings woke. As the sounds of shuffling feet began to filter down Winston took a seat facing the entrance to the kitchen reading for his eldest son’s arrival.

~~~

It had been several months since Dizzee had last invited Boo-Boo to come meet his friends from the writer’s bench. Boo had been trying to not let it get to him. He’d always known, mostly because people were always reminding him, that one day he and his brothers would grow apart and there was nothing he could do about it.

It wasn’t surprising really, if he let himself think about it; they were also so different but he’d at least hoped that The Get Down Brothers would keep them together for a while longer. It had sorta worked he guessed. He and Ra were as close as they’d ever been.

Dizzee however had begun to drift away. Boo hadn’t even noticed the change until Dizzee had collapsed at the performance and that white boy had shown up. That white boy which none of them had known anything about but who seemed to know Dizzee well enough to refuse to leave his side until help arrived. A year ago Boo-Boo would have known anyone who mattered to his brother enough to invite them to his performance. 

It had been a slap in the face and with them almost having lost Dizzee Boo-Boo was jittery about his distance from his brother’s life. He’d change that the minute Dizzee was well enough. He’d restart their tradition of redesigning the characters from Dizzee’s comics and he’d help him plan a mural and he’d ask him what was with this white boy who was important enough to be invite to the performance but who none of them were allowed to know anything about. Boo had the whole thing planned out by the time Dizzee woke up. 

Unfortunately things rarely went the way the Kiplings planned. 

~~~

Yolanda was embarrassed to admit it but she hadn’t noticed a difference in her elder brother until after she had refused to perform at Ruby Con with her friends. She’d been in a state after it. Wracked with guilt both for being unable to perform with them and for therefore not being there to support Mylene when she found her father dead. It had been two days since then and she had seen neither of them. Hell, she hadn’t even left the house. 

She had been staring up at the ceiling in a spiral of despair and self-loathing when Dizzee had knocked on her door. 

“Regina dropped round. I told her that you were contagious and that going near you would have a detrimental effect on her spirt as well as yours. She wants you to know that as soon as your better you’ve got to see her immediately.”

Yolanda groaned and burrowed into her duvet. “Thanks Dizz. I’ll phone her tomorrow.”

She was hoping he’d leave so she could return to her self-pity party but unfortunately her brother rarely did what people wanted or expected. 

“How come you skipped out on the performance? I know it ain’t cause you were nervous you’ve barely shut up about the Soul Madonnas since it started.” Yolanda felt the bed dip and poked her head out to see Dizzee staring at her. 

“Well… uh you know… it just.” She cursed silently how in the hell was she supposed to explain this to her brother. She’d seen The Get Down Brothers perform they did it on their own term with their own style and dance. They weren’t involved with any company how did you say the people helping us make money told us how to make more and I don’t like it. How did she tell her him that while Mylene and Regina were okay with the new direction she wasn’t and she was letting them down and she knew it but she couldn’t make herself go through with it?

“Roy wanted us to try a new angle and the girls are fine with it and they love it but it don’t make me feel like it’s supposed to you know. It’s supposed to make me feel powerful and in control but I just feel small Dizz. Like when I tried on ma’s make up. More like a clown then a lady. You know?”

“Different things make different people free. I mean look at Shao. Guy can DJ but you ever heard him sing?” Yolanda shook her head.

“Trust me you don’t wanna. And Zeke? He can write us all rhymes in an evening but he couldn’t draw a circle to escape if all of the Savage Warlords were chasing him. It don’t make you worse then the others that you don’t like what they do. Just means something different’ll set you free.”

Yolanda stared at her brother. It was so simple she was almost embarrassed she hadn’t thought of it herself. She just had to find what would set her free and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t what set her friends free. Yolanda laughed and the mildly startled expression that appeared on her brother’s face made her laugh harder. It was the lightest she’d felt in days.

Once her laughter had faded out she turned to Dizzee smiling. “Thanks Dizz. You’re a weirdo sometimes but it seems sometimes you make a lot more sense then you should.”

He rolled his eyes at her. The expected response to the well-worn dig. 

“Speaking of what sets us free. The bottle is on the table over there.”

Dizzee’s eyes widened and she chuckled at his surprise. “You’ve been eyeing my nails since I painted them this colour big bro. I’m not stupid.”

He walked towards where she gestured and picked up the bottle. It was bright green. Yolanda watched him study the bottle and briefly wondered if she should be encouraging this. Screw it she decided. He was her brother and she’d support him in whatever it was that made him free. She just hoped everyone else would too.

~~~

Ra-Ra knew his brother was dating someone. He just didn’t know who.

Dizzee hadn’t mentioned a girl. He hadn’t really told them anything about what he was up to. He’d just disappear off with a vague general answer and not mention it when he got back except with another even more vague weird answer. 

Despite this Ra knew he was seeing someone. He’d suspected at first cause of Dizzee’s vague answers and the fact that when Shao had implied that he’d been sneaking off to see someone Dizzee had become more flustered then Ra had ever seen him. And that included the time he’d forgotten his presentation notes and had to bluff his presentation in front of the class. 

He’d also stopped drawing the others gifts. For as long as he could remember Dizzee had always been drawing the Kiplings gifts whether it be family portraits, film posters they couldn’t afford or Ra’s favourite Ra as a jedi master defeating a sith lord. Dizzee loved the joy he could bring others with his art and the fact that none of them had received any art from him for months meant that someone else was. Ra hoped they appreciated it.

However, the most damning piece of evidence to prove that his brother was hiding someone had been a couple of nights ago. Dizzee had disappeared off somewhere and not returned and Ra had gotten up at an ungodly hour to listen to a radio programme on Star Wars. It’d been about half way through the programme that Dizzee had unlocked the front door and headed up the stairs. Ra didn’t think he’d noticed him sitting in the kitchen with the volume turned down as low as he could, without missing anything of course. But Ra had noticed him. 

And Ra had noticed the lipstick that was all over his brother’s face. And that had confirmed it. Dizzee had a girlfriend that he was hiding from them and she wore pink lipstick.  
When Dizzee had come downstairs later on Ra couldn’t see any evidence of the lipstick that had covered his face but since then he’d been dropping hints to Dizzee that he knew and that he could keep a secret. Maybe Ra hoped he’d get to meet her.

~~~

 

When Adele had first noticed it she had panicked, and spent the rest of the night and most of the morning trying to figure out if the rest of her family had noticed and weren’t mentioning it or if they hadn’t realised yet.

It was unlikely Winston had noticed. As far as she was aware he hadn’t even noticed the original change. Though he may just not be mentioning it like she was. 

Regardless, Adele was worried. Because eventually they would notice, and worse eventually someone outside the family would notice. 

Dizzee had started wearing nail polish and Adele was worried. 

Her eldest son’s artistic spirt had got him into trouble before on multiple occasions but this was different. This could get him seriously hurt and that thought terrified her. 

“Ma?”

“Hm?” Adele was jolted out of her thoughts. Dizzee was standing in the kitchen kettle poised above a second mug. 

“Do you want one, Ma?”

“Yes thanks love.” Adele studied her son as he poured her tea. He’d changed recently she noted. He stood differently with a relaxed confidence there had only been a hint of before, there seemed to be more of a smile around his mouth than usual. This music thing must be good for him Adele thought. She hoped it wouldn’t blow up in the kids faces.

“Here.” Dizzee placed the teacup in front of her. 

It was the las survivor of the set he and Yolanda had bought for her birthday years ago off some small stall. Over the years the pieces had been lost, broken or lent until only one remained. This cup was well known in the Kipling household as mother’s mug and no one used it for fear of being the one to break it 

“Dizzee?” He looked up from his cup. Adele could see his nails where his fingers had curled around his mug, red, freshly painted. Better to ask now then to have it spill out when tensions were high Adele decided. She took a deep breath.

“So you wanna tell me what this is all about?” she asked gesturing towards his nails. 

Dizzee blinked. “oh see there was this performance we had and I thought it’s be cool if...”

Adele cut him off. “And what you’re just been able to keep it pristine for weeks. Your brothers and father may not know better but I’m sure we both know that’s unlikely.”

Dizzee shuffled in his seat. God, Adele thought he looks so uncomfortable. A wave of guilt washed over her at the thought of being the cause of her child’s distress. Shae was about to break and sweep the whole conversation under the table and pretend it never happened when Dizzee spoke. 

“You know when you and Pops met you used to exchange things so that when you were apart you’d still be connected?”

Adele nodded. It was a well known story among the Kiplings that their parents had exchanged jewellery and books back and forth between dates until the day Adele had attempted to return the ring Winston had lent her and he’d asked if she’d consider keeping it forever.

“It’s like that you see.” Dizzee continued, “I met someone and we’re working on a piece together. This is just what we do when we’re brainstorming. I keep it because it reminds me of them.”

Adele nodded. So, there was a girl.

This would explain the reluctance to share this with the family, the amount of teasing was going to be enormous when they eventually found out. She wondered what the girl who’d captured her son’s heart was like. An artist. She reckoned that was what had caught his eye. He must really like her if he was willing to risk the teasing of his brothers and worse just to have a reminder of her. 

“Oh Dizzee darling. She’s a lucky girl if you like her that much. Just promise me you’ll be careful some people might get the wrong impression and react badly. I don’t want you getting hurt and I’m sure she doesn’t either.”

Dizzee’s smile seemed strained as he replied. “Don’t worry you know me I’m always careful.”

He got up to leave and Adele knew that it was time to drop the subject. For now at least. 

“I expect to be introduced to this girl soon son. If she’d important to you we want to meet her okay?”

Dizzee paused and a flicker of something passed over his face.

“When I’m ready ma, I promise. You’d get along like the stars and the planets I’m sure of it.”

Adele smiled. “Whenever you’re ready love. Whenever you’re ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to look at the different ways Dizzee's family could have inferred the existence of thor or a SO but none of them do also i just really love the kipling family and want 1000 fics about their dynamics!!!!!!  
> this is my first ever fic so if you have any feedback or constructive criticism feel free to comment bc it's greatly appreciated


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